dana, SG, save me....

[monster]

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yay4youtube

[DanaC]

Bleh. That suxxors. I'll have to wait until a fan puts those sketches on a non bbc channel.

[Sundae]

There was a Mock-The-Week-athon (my name, not theirs) on Dave the other day.
I saved them all, and have watched them while ironing for Grandad.
I've ironed creases in all the wrong places on his boxer shorts & pyjamas while laughing immoderately.

Given Frankie Boyle's filthy tongue I figure Grandad should be grateful I didn't just put the iron down to burn while I cried with laughter.

My bro came round and completely agreed with me. Didn't help with the bloody ironing though!

[Sundae]

Misfits ended this week.
The little teases - we didn't find out Nathan's super-power until the last five minutes of the series!

Won't spoil it in case anyone takes my advice and watches the series. It was really very good. And the door is certainly open for another series, which could focus on the group, on a single character (they're all strong enough) or even on different people similarly affected/ afflicted.

I'd be disappointed not to see Simon or Kelly again if they were missing though. Kelly for her attitude and accent and Simon for his brooding prescence. Oh and the fact he has the haunting/ haunted, slightly odd sort of looks Russel T Davies usually casts.

[richlevy]

Interesting, that reminds me of Misfits of Science (1985). It's refreshing to see the British steal television series ideas from us instead of the other way around. I actually remember some of the series.

Of course, they could be using "Heroes" as their model.

U.S. Shows taken from Britain

All in the Family
Coupling
Life on Mars
Absolutely Fabulous

[DanaC]

I've never got that whole thing of taking a hit show and remaking it. Just show the original. The reason a show gets remade is because it's been a small hit amongst those who've watched it (on BBC America, or the sci-fi channel or whatever). If the original was shown on the main networks it'd probably be accepted as it is. If an American show looks good, we just show it, we don't try to resituate it in an English setting.

Don't they trust their audiences to be able to handle something that isn't set in their own backyard?

I kind of get it with something like The Office. It's very rooted in everyday British experiences and may well not translate. But Being Human is going to be remade and resituated in an American setting. Why? We didn't see True Blood and think hey that's awesome, let's remake it and set it in kent.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I kind of get it with something like The Office. It's very rooted in everyday British experiences and may well not translate. But Being Human is going to be remade and resituated in an American setting. Why? We didn't see True Blood and think hey that's awesome, let's remake it and set it in kent.

Darn, I can't believe I forgot The Office.

I think that sometimes the feeling is that it helps the audience relate to the situation if it's familiar. For example, the average British corporate office probably has a slightly different social dynamic than it's American counterpart. In the US, we have certain social themes we understand, even if we don't experience them ourselves. So most of us can picture what a normal 4th of July company picnic would be like and be able to identify it as a setup for a comedy situation. In England, it might be Guy Fawkes day.

All in the Family and The Office are two examples of taking concepts, applying equally good writing and acting to the American versions, and coming out with something good that is similar but stands on it's own merits.

Coupling and Absolutely Fabulous are what happens when you treat the American version as just another part of the franchise with a different brand label. Poor writing results in a poor product.

[DanaC]

Absolutely. The Office needed to be resituated for it to engage fully.

Being Human doesn't; it's no more about being British, than True Blood is about being American. Likewise No Heroics: it'll lose something if it's resituated. True Blood is absolutely quintessentially Southern in it's cultural references, but it doesn't require one to be a Southerner in order to get it. That's part of its charm in fact.

It's a bit like taking a story that's originally a period piece set in the 19th century and rewriting it as a 21st Century tale on the grounds that 21st century people can't relate to horse-drawn carriages.

[Undertoad]

The Office is a phenomenon; versions of it are now being produced in England (orig.), US, France, Germany, Quebec, Chile, Russia and India. Mr. Gervais deserves any and all success and the British should be proud that they are once again directing world culture.

[DanaC]

yes, we should. And we should be proud of gervais. We are, however, instead rather more inclined to bitch about him and the current vogue is to say, 'Don't know what the fuss is with gervais. I never found him funny. The Office was shit.' or 'Everyone thought he was shit in the 11 o'clock show, now he's just doing the sam old stuff as he did the, so why is everybody treating him like some kind of comedy God.?'

personally I think he's a genuine comic genius. I adored him in the 11 o'clock show. I have loved everything he's done so far. But ya know....this is Britain and that's what we do. We love you til you've made it and then we hate you for making it.

[Sundae]

I know! I am much annoyed by this.
I've never liked Gervais and never thought him funny.
Now everyone else is saying the same thing and it's NOT FAIR!

I rarely go off people.
If I like you, I like you long time, and I don't give a damn what Charlie Brooker says.

[DanaC]

His humour is the kind you either love or hate. It's not comfy. It either strikes a chord or it doesn't.

What pisses me off is the media and blogosphere who go from hailing him King of Comedy one year to trashing him as empty hype the next. Typical of this country.

[Sundae]

I seem to fall between two stools re comedy "comfy" and not.
I dislike Fawlty Towers for example, in the same way I dislike Gervais. It's too close to the bone.

And yet when Matt described Phoenix Nights as "MOR" (middle of the road - his most devastating critique) I was shocked. A comedy that has a disabled man trapped overnight on his Stairlift is hardly Terry and June.

And of course The League are not exactly the epitome of "easy viewing". I think I can cope with most things outside of failure as targets for comedy. I am too moved by the desperation in the men at the centre of FT and The Office to perceive the comedy.

But yes, it's rare I have anything good to say about our papers as a whole. I console myself by thinking that they write to sell. Therefore they are the attention seeking child at the back of the class (or if you are unlucky, the one at the table next to you) and should therefore be ignored if not excused. I try to practice this, but sadly the 'rents get The Express, and a week doesn't go by without me saying, "I just found this in your paper..."

Still, better my righteous indignation is kept without the family I suppose. Otherwise I'd be a journalist...

[wolf]

I must have missed the Amerian ABFAB. Thank goodness, I am so lucky. Loved the real thing, though.

I was devastated by what happened to Live and Loves of a She-Devil over here. ick.

And I have always harbored a suspicion that Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was what happens when a Hollywoodian (a specific breed of American) gets hold of Doctor Who.

[Sundae]

I wonder if it is all about money?
Not a comment on America, just entertainment in general - and your system certainly works in a different way than ours.

Surely BBC America shows the originals (BBC originals of course) but it just doesn't generate enough interest country-wide.

So the option is bought up (benefiting the BBC) and the channel that buys it has effectively a home-grown hit which has already been tried and tested and achieved a certain amount of appreciation nationwide. They reap the advertising revenue.

I don't know how selling a British made series would work in terms of revenue. I'm sure it must (countries throughout the world buy our programmes without needing to remake them) but perhaps it's less feasible in America. Certainly when the remakes are made, FAR more money is thrown at them then in our meagre budgets.

Just a suggestion - I admit I don't really know how this works

And after all you employ a goodly number of our actors in American roles, so I'm not claiming some sort of bias here.